When Seattle police showed up to a Wallingford bar last weekend to deal with a large fight—involving as many as 15 people, a police report says—they made a few arrests. But rather than arresting a dozen patrons, police ended up taking in the bar’s manager and an armed bouncer.
Just after midnight on Saturday, officers arrived at the Guadajara bar on Wallingford Ave and N. 45th Street, and spotted a man standing outside of the club wearing a black t-shirt and shoulder patch identifying him as a police officer. The man was also carrying a pair of handcuffs, two clips of ammunition and a loaded handgun, holstered on his hip.
Police were so convinced by the man’s attire that they asked him if he was a cop. The man told police he was in fact a bouncer at the club, and had been checking IDs when a fight broke out.
Outside of the bar, an injured man approached officers—the report says he was bleeding from his head and had a black eye—along with a woman, who had cuts and blood running down her face.
The man and the woman told police they were waiting to get in to the bar, but saw that other people were being allowed in ahead of them. When the man and woman made a stink about it, the report says, several people began throwing beer bottles at them.
Officers entered the bar and heard a man inside yell “the cops are coming, anyone under 21 leave through the back door.”
Officers asked the manager about the thrown bottles, and armed bouncer, but the report says she told police that she knew nothing about the incident and claimed the bar did not have a bouncer dressed as a cop. When the officer walked the woman outside to where the bouncer was standing she quickly changed her story, the report says, telling the officer “he’s not our regular bouncer.” Police took the bouncer and manager in to custody.
Officers eventually had to call in backup to arrest the man accused of throwing bottles in the bar. Because police had taken the manager and bouncer in to custody, officers ordered the cook the close down the bar.
At the precinct, Washington State Liquor Control Board agents interviewed the bar manager, who admitted that not only was she aware of a fight in the bar earlier that night, but she even stopped the music in the bar and helped clean up bloody liquor bottles used in the incident.
The bouncer admitted to WSLCB agents that not only had he been in the bar while carrying a firearm—illegal in Washington State—but, the report says, he’d also consumed at least one alcoholic drink while at the bar. The bouncer was unable to explain why he was dressed as a police officer, although it appears the bar was having some sort of Halloween event.
The police report indicates the case has been referred to the city attorney’s office.
This post has been updated to correct the name of the bar
